HALF WAY!

So, it struck me the other day that I was almost half way to my goal. When I weighed myself and came in at 290 pounds I thought "only 2.5 pounds to go and I will be at the half way mark". I was down 65 pounds and in order to reach the half way mark I needed to be down 67.5 pounds.

Because half of 130 pounds is 67.5 pounds. Right?

Yeah, sometimes math is difficult. Apparently I was at the half way mark when I weighed myself as 65 pounds is the half way mark. In approximately 135 days I lost 65 pounds. Almost half a pound per day. Yeah, some people out there are going to hate me. Sorry. I started out quite large so it was actually easier for me to lose the weight than most people. As I get closer to my target weight it is going to take more time to losing the same weight than it has in the past.

Weight loss is still primarily the simple formula of calories in vs. calories out. Every 3500 calorie deficit equates to a pound. However, since I am losing weight the number of calories that I need to eat to sustain that weight decreases which lowers the calories out. To continue the weight loss what I would need to do is increase the calories burnt through exercise. I am slowly increasing this as well by increasing the speed of the treadmill when I walk, but there will come a point where I simply can't walk that fast, I will need to run.

I haven't really run for a couple of decades. Yes, decades. To be honest, I am a little scared of the running, just in case my knee decides to take a vacation in the middle of a run.

But, hey, half way to my initial target!!!

Treadmills are boring

Treadmills are boring. They are efficient, they are useful when the temperature dips to -20C, but they are boring as hell.

Knowing this in advance for my treadmill setup I added some entertainment capabilities. The treadmill itself has a set of speakers built into it so I can hook up the iPhone and listen to music or audiobooks or internet radio. The treadmill itself faces a bookshelf. Yes, a bookshelf. On the top of the bookshelf there is a small LED television, an Apple TV and a fan.

Fan? To keep me cool when walking. I generate a lot of heat when walking and the fan is necessary to cool me down.

LED Television? For visual stimulus when on the treadmill.

Apple TV? To connect to everything I need and surprisingly there is a lot to connect to. For example:

• Music. The Apple TV connects to my iTunes and can stream everything I have in my music collection.
• Movies. When I buy movies these days I try to make sure that there is a digital copy that I can load into iTunes. This doesn't mean that I need to keep the copy on my local machine - iTunes can stream it from their library - but it does mean that I have an even wider selection of things to watch.
• Netflix. There is a lot of stuff on Netflix. For example, over the past few weeks I was watching The Walking Dead. Now I have switched to Doctor Who (the 2005 reboot). With seven seasons to watch this will keep me busy for a while. After that I have Supernatural on tap. By the time all of that is done there will be at least one or two more series I need to watch and then I will need to catch up on all of the series that I started watching this way.
• Audiobooks. I keep complaining that I don't have time to read, but I do have time to listen.

There is a lot of stuff out there to watch/listen to and there is a lot of winter still left. Since I am trying to do two sessions a day (one when I wake up and one at lunch) I try to watch things in the morning, when I am close to the TV, and listen to audiobooks at lunch when I am walking.

 

Yeah, treadmills are boring and this is how I am keeping my sanity.

Fitness

OK, so I've lost a bunch of weight and I'm walking more, but am I becoming more fit?

I can unequivocably say "YES", I am more fit today than I was yesterday. For example, back in March I went to a course at the University of Alberta. I parked in the public parking lot and walked the miles and miles to the building I needed to be in. OK, it was only a few hundred yards, but it seemed like miles. In September, just two months into my new lifestyle, I went to another course, parked in the same spot and looked for ways to make the trip longer. I wasn't tired, I actually enjoyed the walk.

I used to find the closest parking spot to the door because that involved less walking. Now? I don't care. I find whatever parking spot is available and then park there. If it is close to the door or far from the door, it doesn't really matter. Now my pet peeve is how people park, not whether or not I get a parking spot near the door.

When I visited my doctor before the rather large flight of stairs from the ground floor to her office was, well, tiring to say the least. At one point my wife asked me if I wanted to wait for the elevator and use that. Now I climb the stairs and it barely impacts my breathing. Yes, it still impacts my breathing because I am still close to 300 pounds and moving that much mass does involve a lot of effort.

Am I more fit? Most definitely.

Can I become even more fit. Yes, that is where I want to go. A personal target is going to be going on a 5K Walk/Run. This may or may not happen due to the damage to the right knee (which really hasn't been hurting recently) but I want to keep that as a longer range target.

I am becoming more fit and I am loving it.

Weight

My weight has changed a lot throughout this entire process.  Two weeks ago I was able to post on my Facebook page that I was below 300 pounds for the first time in a decade.  As I type this I am even lower, down to 295, and continuing to drop.  Losing sixty pounds is not hard, but difficult at the same time.  I guess I really need to explain that one.

Not hard.  Coming in at 355 pounds meant that I had a lot of excess baggage (in this case weight) that I needed to lose, so the potential was there for a lot of rapid weight loss and there has been.  I;ve been losing almost three pounds a week since I started this journey.  For many people just a few weeks of this would make them extremely happy.  Twenty pounds overweight?  Thirty pounds?  Forty?  Been there, done that.  I’ve lost sixty pounds, but I am still listed as being morbidly obese.  Not sure whether that is better sounding than the super obese that I was, but there it is.  I’m close to being simply severely obese but I am still a long way from being listed “normal” with regard to my weight.  Indeed, my initial goal, 225 pounds, still puts me in the overweight category, but it is a target that I desperately want to reach.  So, losing sixty pounds?  Not hard, but I have to lose another 75 to get to where I want to be.

Difficult.  I was at the ITM Christmas Lunch the other day.  A buffet with carved turkey, roast beef, stuffing, gravy and lots of dessert.  I had a single plate full of food before I went for dessert.  What did dessert consist of?  Fruit.  Melon, strawberries, and assorted other fruits.  I ate sensibly.  I controlled my portions.  But it was hard.  I really wanted to sample some of those desserts.  I really wanted to go back for seconds on the turkey and try some of that roast beef.  The buns?  They were fresh and I bet they would have tasted really good with a slab of butter on them.  But I didn’t go there. I refrained from pigging out even though I wanted to.  The most difficult part of this weight loss isn’t just saying “no” to the delicious food, but saying “no” knowing full well that I have already lost sixty pounds.  It would be so easy to say “just this once” and then eat to my hearts content, but I don’t want to slide backwards, I want to stay strong for me.  I want to know that I am doing my best and not throwing in cheat days because something comes up.

So, yeah, sixty pounds was easy because of where I started, but it is also difficult because of where I started.  If I slip up I have a long way to fall

It's been a while

It’s been a while since my last post and a lot has happened since then.  For instance, three days after my last post my mother passed away.  That kind of takes priority over other things, including writing blog entries.  She had been in the Extended Care Centre for a number of years and she decided that it was time to move on.  My father passed away four years ago and Mom missed him.  She missed him so much that when they told her she had a lump in her breast - cancer - she decided not to have it operated upon and removed.  At the end the nurse said that it was probably the cancer that killed her.

I think she would be proud of what I am doing.  She was always worried that I was getting too big and that I should lose weight.  I was in the process, but she never really got to see me change

I’ve also seen the doctor a number of times.  The first time was actually the day before my mother passed away.  I had been doing so well on my sugar levels and on my fitness levels in general that we decided to go ahead and drop the medication.  Like she said at the beginning, once you’re on you never get off and I so desperately wanted to stay off.  I think that was one of the reasons why I became so obsessed with getting healthy.  It literally was a “get fit or die” type of statement.  At that meeting we discussed a number of options and she gave me a form to get another blodd test done in early December to see what my numbers were.

I really wish I could figure out what she was requesting by looking at the form.  If I wanted to I could do some research and come up with the full names of the items she had checked off, but why did she check them off?
What else has changed?  New pants.  Twice.  I have gone from a pair of pants with a tight 52 inch waist to loose 44 inch pants.  I have, quite literally, lost around 10 inches from my waist.  I am now wearing pants that would have fit my ten years ago.  Maybe even twelve.

OK, now that we have established that a bunch of things have changed, let’s see what that really means.

Treadmill

OK, I bought a treadmill.

I took a look at the options (treadmill, The Mall, gym) and decided that, for me, a treadmill was the best choice. While my wife was gently nudging me towards The Mall as the lowest cost option, it was also the option with the most downsides.

• Strenuous workout. OK, if the workout is going to be strenuous (and based on my experience at my father-in-law's house last week it may very well be) I am going to be hot and sweaty. Do I want to wander around West Edmonton Mall with sweat pouring off me? No. Am I going to look suspicious? Yes. Am I going to feel extremely self-conscious and thus sabotage my workout? Probably. The only viable alternatives are the treadmill or the gym.
• Elapsed Time. If I am leaving the house I am adding time to the workout. Ten to fifteen minutes to get there and ten to fifteen minutes to get back. This can add twenty to thirty minutes of time to any workout effort. The best alternative is the treadmill with both the gym and West Edmonton Mall coming in second place.
• Privacy. I am not a very public person. Everything I do is very private. I don't sing in public. I don't draw attention to myself. I am very much an introvert. In the area of walking I can walk in public because people are not shoulder to shoulder with me looking at what I am doing. In this case the gym is the least comfortable solution due to my own insecurities.
• Increased Performance. What if I decide that running is actually what I want to do. Both the treadmill and the gym provide options for me to increase the tempo of my workout without looking out of place. West Edmonton Mall? Imagine a fat man running through the mall with sweat pouring off his head. I'd arrest him.
• Winter clothes. In the middle of winter I would be going to the mall in my winter coat. Where do I put the coat while I am doing my walk? A $3.50 locker? Wear it? While the mall works for summer days when the weather is not perfect, the idea of walking around the mall with a 10 pund winter coat is just not an acceptable approach.

For my personal use the treadmill made more sense with the Gym in second place. If we refer to cost than a Gym membership for the six winter months ($350 - $700) would pay for the treadmill in 2 - 4 years. The more "features" we want in a gym the faster the payback. For example, a dedicated locker or even towel service adds quickly to the cost and makes the treadmill pay for itself much faster.

 

So, there we go, my reasons for a treadmil..

... or a Gym

So, a treadmill is the way to go. Or is it? What about a gym? You know, those sweaty rooms where testosterone laden men are hitting punching bags.

It appears that gyms have changed since I was a kid. Gyms are now "fitness centres" and those testosterone laden men are now being replaced by women in yoga pants. Base on some recommendations I thought I would Che k out a number of options.

Grant Macewan. A local university has opened up their fitness centre to students, staff and the general public. The facilities seem to contain what I am looking for, a treadmill, and they have a variety of options available and they are relatively close to work.

City of Edmonton Recreation Centres. City owned facilities provide a varied level of support for what I want. Some smaller centres contain few options available for what I want while other facilities seem more than adequate. The nearest facility is very small with the odds of the correct machine being available when I want it available akin to being struck by lightning.

Gold's Gym. I am quite leery of Gold's Gym, at least the one closest to my house, because of the numerous complaints I have heard about their business practices, both online and in person. And to be honest, their web site sucks. (Once again, the local branch not the main web site.)

World Health Club. Much better reviews and the locations seem well equipped. There is even one on the direct route to work. They appear to be the one to beat.

Spin Fitness. Small locations open 24 hours a day. Located one block from where I work. Costs less than a gym or rec centre. Not only that, I can get the first month for only $8.95.

West Edmonton Mall. Yeah, I know, it's not a gym or a rec centre but it is big and would allow me to get a good walk in when it was snowing outside. But what about all of the electronics in the car? Wouldn't they freeze in the car?

Lot's of option, but with winter swiftly approaching there is a need to come up with an answer soon.